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Lost Ark community now has access to a holiday gift pack, and Amazon is assuring all that there will be some additional gifts to ensure you can get fully geared up for the content ahead.

On December 28th, Lost Ark had downtime for the weekly maintenance, with a gift pack full of items after a successful almost a year in Western release. Those who log in between 12/28-3/15/2023 will be able to claim the gifts. However, some players that claimed their gifts noticed inconsistencies in what they got.
The gift pack consists of a series of items:

• 100 Ancient Platinum Coin (each coin contains 20k silver)

• 10 Collective Battle Item Chest

• A Legendary Card Pack Selection Chest

• 100 Pheons

• 10 Magick Society Special Dye Chest

• A Mokoko Skin Selection Chest with 4 new options

Some that claimed the packs initially noticed that what came out of the random chests was kind of a dud, with various items being less useful. With a big grant of these chests, it was intended to give some real boosts for those that opened them, so when many underdelivered, the community had some feedback on the matter.

Amazon has announced that there will be a make good grant “to ensure all players are fully geared up with Battle Items of all types, we will be distributing an additional 100 "4 Battle Item Chests". Players who have already claimed their gift will also keep the initial items”

The recently-released Lost Ark roadmap for the first half of 2023 revealed some new content on the way, including this month’s The Witcher collaboration, and quality of life updates. February will bring the beans new continent of Rowen, along with new item level requirements and challenges, including the ability to opt into open world PvP.

Warframe is a title where players assume the role of an individual in a race known as the Tenno. These individuals are capable of using exo-suits known as Warframes. These suits have a lot of different capabilities and powers that they can use to defeat enemies in the system.

Over the years, the developers have introduced a lot of these exo-suits in the game. The most recent Warframe to join the game is Voruna.

There are two primary ways in which any Warframe can be earned in the game. The first option is to purchase it from the market. Players can purchase individual frames from the market in exchange for 325 Platinum. Alternatively, players can purchase the entire set, including her weapons, from the marketplace in exchange for 775 Platinum.

There's also a free method in place, but that does require a lot of grinding. Players can build Voruna in Warframe, but before building this suit, they must first acquire the blueprints for the four parts that make up the suit. To get these blueprints, players will first have to get their hands on a special currency.

This currency is known as Lua Thrax Plasm. The primary blueprint costs 125 Lua Thrax Plasm, while the individual pieces cost 75 Lua Thrax Plasm. To purchase the full blueprint set, players will have to get their hands on a total of 350 Lua Thrax Plasm.

Players will have to grind the Conjunction Survival missions to acquire this currency. Interestingly enough, these missions drop the Lua Thrax Plasm currency as well.

Once they've got their hands on the blueprints for the parts, or they've managed to accumulate the currency required to purchase the Voruna blueprint from Archimedean Yonta at the Crysalith, players will finally be able to craft this Warframe at the Foundry. Crafting requires some other currency as well, so they're as follows:

• Voruna

• Voruna Neuroptics (1)

• Voruna Systems (1)

• Voruna Chassis (1)

• Voruna Neuroptics

• 15,000 Credits

• 20 Voidgel Orbs

• 1,000 Ferrite

• 300 Rubedo

• 25 Lua Thrax Plasm

• Voruna Systems

• 15,000 Credits

• 20 Somatic Fibers

• 2,500 Alloy Plate

• 800 Polymer Bundle

• 25 Lua Thrax Plasm

• Voruna Chassis

• 15,000 Credits

• 5 Nitain Extract

• 30 Voidgel Orbs

• 5,000 Salvage

• 25 Lua Thrax Plasm

• Shroud of Dynar

• Fangs of Raksh

• Lycath's Hunt

• Ulfrun's Descent

Interestingly enough, each of these abilities summons wolves that either shower Voruna with sure buffs or add a deadly amount of debuffs to the enemy.

Alternatively, these wolves come with the ability to protect Voruna as well. She's the only one in the game who can summon and control a pack of wolves, and how her survivability is designed is unique to her.

Given that she's the newest member to have joined an increasing list of these exo-suits, it's understandable that every Tenno would want to add this to their collection. The methods above are the only possible ways to go about it.

Shortly after performing a full analysis of The Witcher 3 Next-Gen on Xbox Series X and PS5, those folks over at Digital Foundry are back to do a full once over of the Xbox Series S version of CD Projekt RED's RPG.

Much like the Series X and PS5 analysis showed us, The Witcher 3 on Xbox Series S is a bit of a mixed bag overall. DF notes that those input latency problems present in the quality mode on Xbox Series X are still here, even if the overall performance at 30FPS is better thanks to a lack of ray tracing on Xbox Series S.

"Looking at performance, Series S impresses initially, hitting a rock-solid 30fps, no matter what I threw at the console and no matter which of the classic stress points I used. Even in the Heirarch Square, which is a real CPU stress-test for PS5 and Series X, there are zero issues.

Series S has the same high NPC count as those much more powerful consoles, although without the ray-tracing features, and it's absolutely holding 30fps, unlike the two more expensive machines."

That lack of RT is a bit of a bummer, but at least the frame rate holds up nicely. However, over in the performance mode, the Xbox Series S version doesn't fare quite as well. There are some major frame rate drops in the machine's 60FPS performance mode, dropping down to the low 40s in that aforementioned stress point; the Heirarch Square.

"Unfortunately, it's not a solid 60fps lock by any means. For most horseback riding in the wilds, Series S hits the mark mostly, but there are significant dips anywhere around Novigrad's centre, with lurches down to the low 40s as we go through Heirarch Square.

This is much worse than PS5 and Series X are in their own performance modes, and truly is the very worst performing section of the game we've found."

The performance mode does improve in more open, less NPC-dense areas, but it's still a very varied experience overall on Xbox Series S. It seems the 30FPS quality mode option is the more stable way to play right now, although with that mode's input delay issues, DF finds it hard to fully recommend either mode right now.

"It's a strange situation but the verdict is similar to the one we had on the two premium machines. The Series S Complete Edition needs a bit more time and some more work to iron out its rough points.

Fundamentally there's a great release of The Witcher 3 for Series S owners here, and it's perhaps just a patch or two away from where we need it to be."

Ultimately, it looks like the Witcher 3 is still a whale of a time on Xbox Series S despite some lingering performance issues, which sounds very similar to our own Xbox Series X experience at launch. We're hoping CDPR cleans this one up in the new year, so we can all enjoy a more consistent current-gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

The Jack the Ripper DLC for Assassin's Creed Syndicate could've been gruesome and fascinating, but the Victorian England expansion sadly wasted its potential. The 2015 entry in the open-world historical series casts players as Jacob and Evie Frye, a pair of twin Assassins, in 1800s London. While a DLC following the Jack the Ripper murders sounds like a perfect fit for the franchise, the standalone story campaign ruins the intrigue of the bloody figure.

Releasing shortly after the base game, Assassin's Creed Syndicate's Jack the Ripper DLC lets players control both Evie Frye and the titular murderer. The story sees Evie investigate the notorious Jack the Ripper murders, with her twin brother Jacob potentially being one of the killer's victims. Evie is used to carry out typical Assassin's Creed open-world gameplay, but at certain points the DLC also puts players in control of the Ripper himself. The historical serial killer controls similarly to Evie or Jacob, but he uses more brutal tactics and performs gruesome executions on his hapless victims. While playing as Jack the Ripper is interesting, the DLC sadly shines too much light on the elusive figure.

Playing As The Ripper In AC Syndicate Is Strange

Tracking down Jack the Ripper as Assassin's Creed Syndicate main character Evie is a perfect setup for an expansion, but playing as the Ripper himself removes much of his mystery and intrigue. The London serial killer remains one of the most infamous unsolved mysteries in history, with the real historical figure leaving five or more innocent victims in his wake. The Jack the Ripper DLC reduces these crimes to mere mission objectives, with players carrying out multiple murders themselves. While having Evie follow in the wake of the Ripper's rampage could've maintained an air of mystery around him, putting players in control of the infamous figure turns him into just another Assassin's Creed playable character.

AC Syndicate's DLC Story Ruins The Ripper's Intrigue

While some fans may feel that Jack the Ripper is the best Assassin's Creed Syndicate character to control, the expansion's story also ruins the mystery surrounding the killer. The actual Ripper's motives are unknown, but the Jack the Ripper DLC haphazardly ties the grisly criminal into the tangled Assassin's Creed lore. The expansion explains that Jack is a former apprentice of Jacob Frye who was also a patient at London's Lambeth Asylum. The Ripper's victims are explained to actually be Assassins, with Jack holding a grudge against Jacob for failing to save his mother. This explanation dramatically simplifies and perverts the story of the real Ripper just to fit the convoluted Assassin's Creed narrative.

The story of Jack the Ripper has a clear link to Assassin's Creed Syndicate, but the titular DLC sadly failed to do the killer's historical tale justice. Playing as the Ripper, rather than simply hunting him down and investigating his crimes, removes the mystery surrounding the infamous figure. The expansion's story is even more ineffective, with the serial killer's motives and story being forcibly tied into the larger Assassin's Creed narrative. An Assassin's Creed Syndicate DLC about Jack the Ripper is a no-brainer, but the expansion should've taken more care to maintain the gravitas and intrigue of the killer's story.

EA Sports FC 24 will represent a huge change in the annual release of football games, and with EA’s footballing behemoth set to continue, we put forward 5 things that need to change in the game’s Ultimate Team mode moving forward.

Whether it’s called FIFA or EA Sports FC, the fact is that EA will still be producing a football simulation game that is bound to find the top bins like it always does. The strike might not always be pure, but it’s enough to tempt millions of consumers into buying it each and every season.

EA Sports FC 24 will have a different name, but the core of FIFA is still expected to be retained, which means we’re likely to see a whole host of familiar game modes returning – including the money-making Ultimate Team.

With that being said, we’ve drawn up a list of areas we think EA needs to work on when it comes to Ultimate Team, to make it a more fulfilling and engaging game mode.

1. Less promos & SBCs

I’ll just go ahead and say it, the oversaturation of weekly promos and excessive SBCs killed off FIFA 23 long before Christmas.

‘Special’ cards no longer feel special when EA are releasing several new players with amazing stats that also make top-tier Rare Gold cards redundant. In addition, TOTW is a shadow of its former self.

The knock-on effect is a completely dead market in which FIFA 23 only has two Rare Gold Players who sell for over 100K heading into 2023.

It was a bore to see everyone have Haaland spearheading their team by the end of November with a litany of SBCs surrounding him. Endgame teams shouldn’t be a regular sight in December, and it kills all the fun by having every game be an absolute sweatfest.

2. Scrap meaningless consumables

Is there a human being alive who enjoys the concept of Contracts or Healing? Like Fitness cards, they were a tricky yet strategic element of Ultimate Team in years gone by, but the abundance of packs, free packs, and rewards means you’ll simply never run out of them now.

They’ve become a nuisance for the sake of being a nuisance and add nothing to the game. I get that they’re also there to fill up packs as rares, but in that case, find new ways of going about it – as they did with Position Modifier cards.

3. Bring back the Win/Loss system for Division Rivals

The checkpoint system was an attempt to reinvigorate FUT Rivals and give it a shake-up. The only problem was that the classic Promotion/Relegation system across a set number of games wasn’t broken – so they didn’t need to ‘fix’ it.

Now, you can be permanently stuck in limbo in a division that you’re not entirely comfortable with for a whole season. This makes the grind for Weekly Rewards harder (another mistake was changing the total needed to 8 for the Reward Upgrade) and your gameplay more frustrating.

Bring back the old system, please.

4. Increase the challenge of FUT Moments for more rewards

The big concern was that FUT Moments was going to become stale very quickly, and that turned out to be the case as EA didn’t make them worth completing as the Season 1 rewards were tragically woeful.

It’s a novel concept having bitesize segments of gameplay to grind towards rewards, but therein lies the second problem – the gameplay is tedious.

Playing against a team with a guaranteed minimum of 20 in-game minutes left to play and winning by 2 goals on Semi-Pro is not appealing to anyone, let alone challenges that dumb the difficulty down even more.

Give us interesting scenarios where we can choose multiple different difficulty levels, a la Squad Battles, and offer us fun, varied objectives to complete with decent rewards on the line. Otherwise, FUT Moments risks being a great concept that ends up dying – like FUT Draft.

5. Guaranteed rewards for FUT Champions

Unless you’re finishing extremely high up in FUT Champions, then it’s a serious case of Forest Gump syndrome with FUT Champions as you literally have no idea what you’re going to get.

Now, in fairness, big respect has to go to EA as they reduced the original 40 games down to 30 and now to 20, but for lots of people, 20 is still a hefty commitment. So, if you’re going to battle your heart and soul out to try and rack up as many wins as possible, then you want to be rewarded.

Worse still, players who are getting 12-16 wins, sometimes more, are getting amazing rewards on paper, but being shafted when it comes to their actual prizes. It would make sense to implement a system similar to Rivals in that players can pick from two or three rewards, with at least one option guaranteeing you an 86+ player for example.

These are just some of the ways in which we’d go about improving EA’s football game moving forward as we head into the new era of EA Sports FC.

The long-awaited Path Of Exile 2 will be fully unveiled next year, first at Exilecon 2023 before heading to Gamescom in August for European players to check out in the flesh, devs Grinding Gear Games have confirmed. Path Of Exile 2 had been penciled in for a 2022 release, but it's now looking like the sequel could arrive in time for the series' tenth anniversary. A beta is planned, too, and dates for that will be announced when the game is shown at Exilecon.

GGG's CEO Chris Wilson declined to go into detail about what we can expect to see from Path Of Exile 2 at Gamescom during a press preview of today's Forbidden Sanctum expansion stream, but he did say that development on the sequel is going well. time since we last heard much about the game. Path Of Exile 2 was first announced at Exilecon 2019, just a little more than three years ago. It's set to introduce a second, seven-act storyline that's playable alongside the original Path Of Exile camp .

We rated the OG Path Of Exile among the best RPGs to play on PC earlier this year, and plonked it on our list of the best free PC games too. Path Of Exile was released in 2013 but still gets a fresh expansion every three months. This time around GGG are taking the game roguelike with The Forbidden Sanctum, which pits your character against multiple floors of perilous dungeons and chucks all sorts of boons, afflictions and bosses at them.

Read More: Tips For Running Path Of Exile Sanctum League

Path Of Exile 2 doesn’t have a release date yet, as you’d expect. I’ll let you know when I hear more but. For now, Path Of Exile’s The Forbidden Sanctum expansion is in full swing.

Shadowraze, a Russian rapper and streamer, was recognized as one of the Top 10 rappers of 2022 by Genius, a website that claims to have the world's largest collection of song lyrics and music knowledge. Shadowraze has gained popularity for his love of the video game Dota 2, releasing several music videos inspired by the game, including ‘astral step,’ which reached the top of the Spotify weekly chart in Russia for two consecutive weeks.

Shadowraze boasts 428.26K monthly listeners on Spotify with “astral step,” the song that incorporates multiple aspects of Dota 2’s Void Spirit such as his spells receiving over 36M plays on the website.

Shadowraze’s affiliation with Dota 2

The Russian rapper has had a long history with Dota 2 releasing multiple tracks related to the game including ‘adaptive strike’, ‘Chronosphere’, ‘psiblades’, ‘juggernaut’, and ‘shadowfiend’ garnering millions of streams.

He also regularly streams his Herald Dota 2 pubs on his Twitch channel: razedoto.

Earlier this year, he was put in the spotlight for reaching the top of the Spotify weekly chart in the Russian region for two weeks in a row with ‘astral step.’ The song had more listens on Spotify in Russia than any other track in February, raking in 972,990 streams in the first week of the month and 969,568 in the week before. Originally released on 29th Oct 2021 on YouTube, the rap has crossed 2.5 million views at the time of writing.

Overall, Shadowraze's combination of musical and gaming talent has helped him establish a dedicated fanbase and earn recognition as one of the top 10 rappers of 2022, according to Genius' rankings.

The top 10 rappers of 2022, as ranked by Genius, are:

1. Kendrick lamar ( 19.5 million views )

2. Kanye west ( 17.5 million views )

3. Juice wrld ( 14.9 million views )

4. Drake ( 14.2 million views )

5. Eminem ( 13.5 million views )

6. YoungBoy Never Broke Again ( 7 million views )

7. Oxxxymiron* ( 6.8 million views )

8. Tyler, the creator ( 5.4 million views )

9. Future ( 5.4 million views )

10. shadowraze ( 5.2 million views )

While some may reel at the idea of Diablo 4 followers, like them or loathe them, the helpful companions have become a staple part of the action RPG game‘s combat. I asked Blizzard what its plans are for aides in Diablo 4, and while they didn’t say too much, it looks like followers may join the roster at some point.

Speaking to lead class designer Adam Z. Jackson in the wake of the Diablo 4 gameplay preview, I asked whether or not the follower system would be more akin to that of Diablo 2 or Diablo 3 – if there was one at all.

For those unaware, in Diablo 2 you would hire followers to descend on the gates of hell with you, but when they were killed you had to rehire them with cold hard cash. A new follower appeared in each zone, meaning some were absolutely better than others.

This evolved in Diablo 3, where instead of hiring mercenaries you acquired three different companions during the story campaign. You had the Scoundrel, Sorceress, and Templar, who represented ranged DPS, tank, and magic user respectively.

In my Diablo 4 adventure I only encountered helpful NPCs who stuck around for a dungeon or two then rode of into the sunset. When I asked Jackson how the game’s follower function will work, they stated “for the launch version of the game we do have some places in the story in particular where you will have certain named NPCs following you and helping you out as you figure out what Lilith is doing in the world.

“We don’t have anything to announce about the Diablo 2-type follower that you hire – we’re sticking it to the campaign for now.” Emphasis on the for now.

With a wry smile they continue “stay tuned, we may have something in the future to announce but no promises.” This immediately prompted a response from dungeon producer Ash Sweetring, who channelled her inner Mr. Burns with an ‘interesting’ hand motion in the background. Now that’s what I call sus.

If any iteration of the follower system makes it into Diablo 4, I would rather it was the Diablo 2-style hired gun instead of omnipresent companions. I liked the vast array of different abilities followers brought to the table in Diablo 2 and would love to see this innovated upon. It opens up yet more space for different builds, as well as awesome demon-slaying ability chains.

For now, though, you may want to read up on the Diablo 4 classes, as it’s them we’ll be playing as primarily. In a separate interview with game director Joe Shely, however, it was implied that this roster may expand – after all, nothing is eternal in Sanctuary.

No professional career is eternal, especially in League of Legends.

With every offseason being quite unpredictable and every organization in the scene looking to secure a roster capable of winning trophies, it’s no surprise that some pro players are left behind and aren’t picked to compete professionally.

In League, this usually means that such individuals turn over to streaming full-time. That way, they can still polish their abilities, stay sharp, and wait for a potential offer from an organization to join its ranks.

As of now, there are a bunch of pros who have done exactly that: focused on streaming. Some of them are looking for potential offers in the future, while others remain undecided or gave up on coming back to the professional scene.

Here are six League of Legends pros who will enter 2023 as full-time streamers.

Broxah

Broxah is one of the few Western players to have reached the World Championship final when he became a Worlds 2018 semifinalist with Fnatic. Since then, he’s also played under Liquid and CLG’s banners. By the end of last year, he decided to become a full-time streamer, while also leaving the door open for potential opportunities. He rejoined Liquid as a content creator in January 2022, and not much will change in the nearby future. On Dec. 21, Broxah announced that in the first half of 2023, he will continue doing what has worked for him for the past year: streaming, appearing on LEC broadcasts, and more. At the same time, he’s uncertain about his plans for the second half of the year.

IWillDominate

IWillDominate is certainly one of the most renowned full-time streamers in the League community. He’s been creating content since 2016 for Liquid and Cloud9. He parted ways with the latter on Dec. 21, though the exact reasons behind that decision are unknown so far. Still, there are no reasons to believe that IWD will bid farewell to streaming. He has created a significant community and become one of the biggest personalities in the esports and gaming ecosystem.

Nemesis

After being unable to find a team in the 2020 offseason, Nemesis decided to also try his luck in streaming. And so far, that has been working tremendously, to say the least. The 23-year-old was picked up by Gen.G in January 2021, and since then, he’s created a bunch of content, often teaming up with other personas from the scene, like LS. With no updates from Nemesis regarding his future, it’s more than likely that he’ll continue broadcasting in 2023.

Bwipo

Bwipo joined Liquid by the end of 2021 in the hopes of claiming new successes with the North American squad, which at that time assembled a superteam, with the Belgian being one of the main stars. The following season turned out to be a fluke, though, and after a revamp of the roster, Bwipo has found himself teamless. As a result, he announced on Dec. 1 that he will be streaming in 2023. He also said he will be evaluating his future options as time goes by, so he might return to the pro scene eventually.

Pobelter

The North American LCS has many renowned mid laners and Pobelter is certainly one of them. With almost 10 years of professional gaming experience, Pobelter truly etched his name in the history books for his numerous appearances on the international stage and domestic trophies. He stopped playing professionally in February 2021 and has been focused on streaming ever since.

PowerOfEvil

In 2017, PowerOfEvil was just one game away from taking down Faker and SKT T1 in the Worlds quarterfinals. After that deep run on the international stage, the German has played for five different North American organizations, and it looks like now a small hiatus awaits him. The 25-year-old announced that he’s returned to Germany to focus on streaming after a lack of interesting offers this offseason. Still, he sees himself as one of the strongest mid laners in the game and would like to return to pro play in the future.

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and the MMORPG is bigger than it’s ever been. FFXIV is set to get another big drop of post-Endwalker content with Patch 6.3, titled Gods Revel, Lands Tremble. As you might expect there are plenty of new Main Scenario quests for players to dive into, but there’s quite a bit of other content on the way as well, including one major job rework. Here’s everything you need to know about FFXIV’s Patch 6.3

When is the FFXIV Patch 6.3 release date?

Patch 6.3 — Gods Revel, Lands Tremble — will go live on January 10, 2023. As is usual with these patches, you can expect FFXIV to go down the evening of January 9, with maintenance running into the early morning. Although Square Enix hasn’t announced the exact time for maintenance yet, the main patches usually start at roughly 10 p.m. Eastern and run until 6 a.m. Eastern.

Patch 6.3 New Alliance Raid and more additions

Per usual, Patch 6.3 will feature a handful of new Main Scenario Quests, a new dungeon, and a new trial. The dungeon this time around is called Lapis Manalis, and is described as follows “In pursuit of voidsent, you learn of an abandoned village in the mountains of Garlemald where Garleans once practiced the reaper arts. But what will you find there deep in the heart of the mountain?”

The big changes in Patch 6.3, however, is the continuation of the Myths of the Realm Alliance Raid, with Part 2: Euphrosyne. Once again players will come face-to-face with The Twelve, the guardian deities of Eorzea. This is the land of revelry for the gods, and this time around players will be facing Nophica, Althyk, Halone, and Menphina. Of course, keep in mind to access Euphrosyne, you’ll need to be level 90, have a sufficient equipment level, and be up to date with the Myths of the Realm questline.

Treasure Hunt is also getting a bit of an update and will change to a new treasure dungeon “The Shifting Gymnasion Agonon.” You can access the new dungeon through a treasure map that’s usable in Elpis.

Those are the major additions, but there are plenty of other smatterings of content as well, which we’ll cover below.

• New Unreal Trial - Containment Bay P1T6 (Unreal)

• Additional Duty Support for Heavensward - Duty Support added for The Great Gubal Library, Sohr Khai, The Aetherochemical Research Facility, Xelphatol, The Antitwoer, and Baelsar’s Wall.

• New quests for Tataru’s Grand Endeavor

• PvP Season Three Starts as well as Season Five of Crystalline Conflict. A new arena for Crtyalline Conflict “The Clockwork Castletown” will be added.

• Island Sanctuary Update - New ranks, visions, items, materials, crops, animals, and handicrafts.

• New Housing Wards - All housing wards will get 6 new regular wards as well as 6 new subdivisions. (1800 new plots per world)

• Alternate UI Theme - Clear Blue

• Umbrella fashion accessory can be automatically opened when it rains

• New Gear

• New Custom Deliveries for Anden

Additionally, a couple of pieces of content will be added in the sub-patches for the 6.3 series, which we don’t have exact dates for yet.

• (Patch 6.31) Ultimate Duty #5 - The Omega Protocol (Ultimate). This will release two weeks after Patch 6.3, and players need to have completed Abyssos: The Eighth Circle (Savage).

• (Patch 6.35) - Continuation of Somehow Further Hildabrand Adventures questline.

• (Patch 6.35) - Deep Dungeon #3 Eureka Orthos - In order to access players need to have complete MSQ of Endwalker and reached floor 50 of Palace of the Dead.

Patch 6.3 Paladin Bulwark and more changes

Outside of new content, there are some fairly major changes coming to the Paladin job, which fans have been asking for since the launch of Endwalker. Other jobs are only getting minor adjustments to usability. Below you can see an overview of the changes, straight from the latest Live Letter.

• Rotations have been shortened to accommodate high-powered actions.

• Damage over time effect for Goring Blade and Blade of Valor was removed and their potency adjusted.

• Divine Might is now applied after weaponskill combos, allowing an enhanced Holy Spirit to be executed once without casting.

• Holy Sheltron’s effect has been changed to reduce damage taken, thereby enhancing defensive capabilities against damage over time.

• The previously removed Bulwark ability has been revamped and reintroduced, offering increased defensive capability.

• Utility of several other actions and combos have also been adjusted.

Recent Genshin Impact leaks give more information about two new skins for Ayaka and Lisa which are expected to arrive in the upcoming months.

New Genshin Impact leaks reveal the potential appearance of the upcoming costumes for two popular characters, Ayaka and Lisa. Even though the game's characters are the focal point of the game as they are its main source of revenue, HoYoverse does not introduce skins that often.

The last two costumes arrive back in Genshin Impact update 2.8 which introduced the first five-star skin for Diluc named Red Dead of Night. The Electro user Fischl also received a new outfit in the same update which was obtainable for free during the Summertime Odyssey event.

A new post on the Genshin Impact Leaks subreddit reveals the design of the two new skins for Ayaka and Lisa. Both concepts were apparently created based on previous leaks revealed by Team China, a group of credible Genshin Impact leakers. While these leaks should be taken with a grain of salt, almost every previous outfit that was introduced to Genshin Impact went through the same leaking process, meaning that the new skins will probably look very similar to the concepts. There is no information about their rarity, but players expect Ayaka's skin to have a five-star rating which would equip the character with a new set of effects.

While some players in the comment section claim that they like the new skin, especially if it has new SFX effects, others claim that they would not spend over $20 on a costume that has a similar color theme to Ayaka's current outfit.

The Cryo user is one of the most popular characters in the game which is probably one of the reasons why she was chosen to receive a new skin. She even holds the record for most sales within a single Genshin Impact banner cycle, however, it should be noted that her numbers were inflated due to a three-week delay during 2.6.

Torchlight: Infinite has a brand new trailer for its next season, coming in January, that gives a peek at the Blacksail update and the start of a new adventure for the ARPG. From new skill options, new features, to endgame content, January looks packed.

If you've been playing Torchlight: Infinite for a while and you're hungry for some new content, there's more on the way. Expect the new Blacksail story content, where Aemberons eat each other in the Sea of Void, leading to wandering souls trying to rejoin the living. Blacksail gets pulled by these efforts to try to take over even more worlds under the Lord of Void Sea.

In season 2, there will be new skills introduced, as well as something called Hero Relics, that will let you progress and develop your builds with additional loot and loadout slots for additional variety. There's also something called Hero Memories. Every character can equip one Hero Relic, which will give you three slots to fill with Hero Memories. What these memories do is provide affixes related to your specialization. You get to pick which ones are the most helpful for you, and there will be five new main skills when the new season starts. XTD is also adding some new gear.

When it comes to the endgame content, you'll be able to earn loot drops with special affixes, Void Sea Night Flame when you kill monsters in the Netherrealm map. Collect those until you can eventually break some seals to take on the endgame challenges, including the final boss, the Lord of Void Sea himself.

The new update will feature some tech updates and quality of life changes, including the ability to play with controller on PC. Other improvements include better robot optimization, an updated info panel, and even a customizable minimap that you can display as semi-transparent.

While not perfect, the co-op mod is the best way to re-experience this tremendous RPG.

On what had to be our 10th attempt at Elden Ring's first major boss, Godrick the Grafted, the big guy froze. A friend and I were using the Seamless Co-op mod (opens in new tab) and Godrick, despite having a literal fire-breathing dragon-head for an arm, decided to surrender. My fellow Tarnished got roasted a second earlier so it was just me and Godrick the Frozen. Cautiously I swung at him, ready for his brain to turn back on. It never did. I slashed away the last half of his health bar and sent him back into the ether. LEGEND FELLED. The mod may have broken him, but we were also several attempts in and just wanted to move on. A win is a win.

The Seamless Co-op mod solves all of the problems with Elden Ring's awful multiplayer summoning system, but it also introduces a slew of new ones once you're playing with it. Sometimes they're funny: my friend got to see my character ride an invisible horse a lot of the time. Sometimes they're useful: when one of you dies, the enemies don't reset, so you can cheese harder dungeons. And sometimes they're legitimately game-breaking: your ability to lock-on vanishes in the Radahn fight, which essentially prevents anyone who plays a spellcaster from doing damage at all.

The mod sits right in the middle of being unplayable and glorious. As Ted Litchfield wrote in his early impressions (opens in new tab) of it, it's simply the best way to play Elden Ring with a friend. Nothing could be worse than the normal method where you have to set a multiplayer password, drop a summon sign, wait for your friend to find it, and then be summoned in long enough to defeat the area's main boss. In the Seamless Co-op mod, you set a password, have your friend open their world, and then you can join them for as long as you want. You could play the entire game without ever getting kicked out.

On top of that, the Seamless Co-op mod lets you both ride Torrent (normal co-op prevents any horsing around) and, as part of a recent patch, you both can summon spirit ash allies anywhere you want. In some ways, playing with the mod is like playing in New Game+. There are some challenges here and there, but you have enough tools to barrel through however you want. Because my friend was new, I let her lead the way through catacombs and castles. She experienced all the little tricks FromSoftware plays on you with ambushes and puzzle-like combat scenarios. And, if things got hairy, I could assist using what I've learned from my own playthroughs.

New rules

The best moments with the Seamless Co-op mod are when things go very wrong. When the challenge is at its highest, the mod changes how you approach the game. Normal enemies are extremely susceptible to getting staggered when two of you are beating them up. We found this out rather quickly in the early parts of the game, so to keep things interesting we took on the toughest enemies. The patrolling Tree Sentinel in the opening area is a little more manageable when you have two people taking swipes at him on horseback, but he can still pulverize you in a single hit. For that fight, I equipped the talisman that kept his attention on me while I tanked him on the ground. My friend played the role of DPS and wore him down while he was distracted. It took us a few tries, but once she landed that final blow it felt like beating a raid boss in an MMO: going in with a plan and adapting on the fly based on the enemy's behavior.

We also decided to skip most of the optional catacombs and dungeons until we absolutely needed an upgrade or item they offered. This method kept us rune-starved enough to make some of the fights a genuine obstacle. For Castle Morne, we had to take turns pressing forward as one of us got killed, utilizing the fact that enemies don't respawn unless someone rests at a grace. The player that ate it can run back with a small penalty to their stamina regeneration. There were times where I intentionally bolted into a group of enemies and dispatched the most powerful one. I'd likely die in the process and leave my friend with the job of staying alive as I made my run back.

Under these new self-imposed rules, you're forced to come up with strategies that differ from the singleplayer game. By myself, I crept through dungeons and learned where enemies would appear. I'd wait until they were separated from the pack almost like a stealth game, or I'd pull them back to a safe spot. Wrong moves would be the end and I'd have to try again. In co-op, the goal is to cycle between each other long enough to make it to the next grace. To my surprise, Elden Ring works well as a gauntlet if you have someone who finds it equally thrilling to think on the fly.

Road trip

While not necessarily unique to the co-op mod, re-experiencing Elden Ring's open world with a friend who hasn't seen any of it before is a delight. It's like watching someone play your favorite game for the first time, but you get to be right there with them.

I completely forgot until the door locked behind us that Gatekeeper Gostoc traps you in a dark room with a brutal knight at the beginning of Stormveil Castle. Nothing is more scary for my friend than when something like that happens and we're both panicking. The same thing happened when she led the way toward a group of enemies in the middle of a swamp in Limgrave and the gigantic dragon flew down and barbecued her and everyone else. I've always said that Elden Ring's open world is basically made to emulate the popular Dark Souls memes (opens in new tab) where some person or animal gains a health bar and dramatic choir music starts. With persistent co-op, you can stumble into all sorts of problems, which is really what Elden Ring is all about.

The Lands Between also remain absolutely stunning to look at. I thought some of that would be lost while playing with a friend, but there have been several times where we've both crested a hill or came out of a cave and stood there looking out over the landscape. With two people, you have the time to appreciate the day/night cycle and how it can create the sort of imagery you'd usually see in staged screenshots. I desperately wanted a photo mode when all I could see on my screen was our silhouettes as we galloped across the grassy hills of Limgrave, or when we stood in the middle of the Radahn's battlefield, soaked in the crimson rain.

The Seamless Co-op mod's biggest weaknesses are in the most scripted sequences, which end up being the main Shardbearer boss fights, like Radahn and Rennala. You can't respawn at a Stake of Marika near them, so on top of AI and mechanics not working, you have to do the full run back. I imagine as we get deeper into the game there will be fights that might verge on being legitimately maddening. But we're halfway through and the worst we've had to deal with was the lock-on issue and one of us not correctly receiving runes as a reward for downing a boss—thankfully minor bosses are easy enough to farm souls from to alleviate that.

Otherwise, the mod is like playing on a new difficulty mode. It's still Elden Ring, but with pockets of new challenge that in-turn create new surprises. The mod's creator continues to update it as FromSoftware rolls out new patches. It's possible that at some point most of the bugs we encountered will be fixed. When that happens, I'll have zero caveats when recommending people to give the game a shot with a co-op partner. I wouldn't go so far as to say Elden Ring is purely better with friends, but it's easily the best way to re-experience it if you know someone that is willing to join you on the journey.

You can download Seamless Co-op from Nexus Mods (opens in new tab).